The Swedish parliament, the Riksdag, has given the gambling regulator Spelinspektionen new powers. These include the ability to block payments made by unlicensed operators.
The new Swedish gambling laws, which included amending the country’s Gaming Act, are expected to take effect on 1 July of this year. Spelinspektionen can now purchase gambling services using a disguised identity to monitor gaming companies operating on the regulated market.
In the new law the regulator is also authorized to store and transmit personal data to prevent match fixing. The gambling industry will also be required to provide information to police about crimes involving the gaming sector.
Payment Blocking To Involve Service Provider
The original Gaming Act authorized the regulator to block any electronic transactions when it suspected that payments were made by unlicensed operators for gambling services.
Spelinspektionen, however, has not yet used these payment-blocking powers. They claim that the “certain practical difficulties”, make it difficult to implement the current regulation. The previous blocking powers were therefore repealed.
The old powers are being replaced by new ones which will be implemented differently. Payment blocking capabilities were deemed important by the government for the purpose of channelisation. They also said it was necessary to include payment service providers to understand “how winnings and stakes are transferred to and from gambling operators identified and the authority”.
It is therefore necessary to give the regulator the authority to create regulations regarding the obligations of payment providers to provide the necessary information to block the illegal payments.
Undercover Operations
In the absence of a legal framework that allows for the undercover monitoring of gambling operations, the government stated that the regulator’s opportunities in online gaming are “limited”. It considered that the new powers granted in this context were proportionate.
Spelinspektionen is now allowed to buy gambling services online using a disguised identity in order to ensure that operators comply with the Gaming Act. The operator must be informed as soon as possible about the test purchases.
